6.18.2008

Luto para la poesía / Francisco Massiani

Mourning for Poetry

To Eugenio in memoriam To David Mauri, to Níyume

A day of mourning for Spanish language and love poetry:

A something diesSo much diesThe spirit of the written wordOf great poetryThe poet Eugenio Montejo has diedI recall him sitting in a little barIn the Latin QuarterSurely with a coffeeMaybe a beerWith his round eyeglassesHis blue jacketOn that chilly afternoon, didn’t I seeDavid Mauri,Marta Araujo with her profoundly blue eyes,The poet Enrique H. D’Jesús,Indio Guerra,The great Tarek Souki?We spoke brieflyEugenio was sparing in speech:“Do you know Marie De Place?”I asked himAnd he answered, like someone for whom every word hurtsEvery pulseOf every spoken word:“Yes, we had something.”That was it.Yes: Poetry’s heart is woundedEugenio’s delicate and large heartYes: I saw him once and that was it.A day of mourning for Spanish language poetryAnd love poetryHe died in silence, without fanfare,Eugenio Montejo.